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The Epic of Gilgamesh Mesopotamian Culture

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Mesopotamian Societies Sumerian first major civilization (3000 BCE) non-Semitic people / language Uruk (and other cities) elaborate mythology and cult- based mythic poems Babylonian / Akkadian later (1200-600 BCE) Semitic people / language myths Sumerian in origin

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Mesopotamian Societies Both societies share: socio-political hierarchy with kings as head of state (gods above them all) priestly class who also teach, write, preserve literature high level of civilization (i.e. social structure and material wealth) irrigation-based agriculture tradition of sacred cunei- form writings associated with rituals

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Gods and Goddesses Anu, a son of the first pair of gods, Anshar and Kishar, is god of the sky and the father of the gods. Ea, son of Anshar and Kishar, was the god of intellect, creation, wisdom, magic, medicine, and the freshwater subterranean ocean apsu. Enlil was Anus son and the father of Sin. He is the god of earth, wind, and air, who often mistreats humankind (creates the flood).

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Gods and Goddesses Sin (the moon) was a god of wisdom, higher in the pantheon than his children: Ishtar (the morning star), whose multifaceted nature includes goddess of sexual love, justice, warfare, and prosperity (cf. Venus/Mars) Shamash (the sun), who becomes important as a deity of all-seeing justice

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Gods and Goddesses Tammuz: Ishtars husband, a god who died and was reborn yearly (Persephone?). Ereshkigal: the goddess of the underworld married to Bull (Hades/Persephone?)

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Lamassu The lamassu is a celestial being from Mesopotamian mythology. Human above and a bull below the waist, it also has the horns and the ears of a bull and sometimes wings. The lamassu was a household protective spirit of the common Babylonian people, becoming associated later as royal protectors, placed as sentinels at the entrances.

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Lamassu

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The City-state of Uruk Gilgamesh was the king of the city-state of Uruk, the setting for many of the events in the poem.

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City-states in Mesopotamia Although all the cities shared the same culture, each city had its own government, rulers, warriors, its own patron god, and functioned as an independent country. Mesopotamian cities were Ur, Uruk, Kish, and Lagesh. At the center of each city was a ziggurata massive, tiered, pyramid-shaped temple.

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The Ziggurat (p.61)

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The Ziggurat

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Inside the Temple (p.61)

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Gilgamesh Gilgamesh was both one of Uruks earliest kings and a mythic hero. He features in several Sumerian myths and in the longer Epic of Gilgamesh that we are reading. This poem, discovered in about 1920, was the most popular piece of literature in Mesopotamia, found in many different languages and versions across 2500 years. Our translation draws on Sumerian, Akkadian, and Hittite sources.

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Gilgamesh Both the Sumerian and the Akkadian versions of Gilgamesh were written on clay tablets in cuneiform script:

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About Cuneiform

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More Cuneiform Tablets

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Gilgamesh I shall tell the land of the one who learned all things, of the one who experienced everything, I shall teach the whole. He searched lands everywhere. He found out what was secret and uncovered what was hidden, he brought back a tale of times before the flood. He had journeyed far and wide, weary and at last resigned. He built the wall of Uruk... One square mile is the city, one square mile is its orchards, one square mile is its claypits, as well as the open ground of Ishtars temple.

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Gilgamesh Gilgamesh, the son of Lugul- banda and the goddess Ninsun, is 2/3 god and 1/3 human. But like all humans, he is destined to die. The epic often deals with the Jungian fear of death. As the poem begins, he is king of Uruk, making his city ever greater. Though perfect in many ways, he creates issues: His excess energy (in building, exploration, and sex) is causing tension among his people, who pray to the gods for relief.

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Gilgamesh and Enkidu The gods create Enkidu, a hairy wild man, and place him in the forest near Uruk. He lives like an animal, annoying the locals, who ask Gilgamesh for help. He suggests that they tame him by sending him a woman to sleep with. A temple harlot Shamhat (cult name for Ishtar) has sex with him, imbuing him with wisdom (Jungs anima/animus?). Enkidu, now civilized, decides to go to Uruk. He and Gilgamesh meet, fight, become best friends. Gilgamesh stops being a nuisance. They decide to go on a quest to free the Cedar Forest of Humbaba.

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Gilgamesh and Enkidu Enlil destined H. to keep the pine forest safe, be the terror of people. (Shadow?) The heroes represent civilized culture battling nature/savagery. Everyone advises against it. Ninsun prays to Shamash: Why did you single out my son Gilgamesh and impose a restless spirit on him? He faces an unknown struggle, he will ride along an unknown road. She adopts Enkidu as her son and entreats him to watch after Gilgamesh. The heroes depart.

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Gilgamesh and Enkidu MASCULINEFEMININE Gilgamesh Enkidu Conscious mind / ego / the known Unconscious mind / anima / the unknown Society (human) / structure and control / technology Nature (beast) / no structure or control / self-sufficient Gods / life / known Humbaba / death / unknown

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The Cedar Forest When Enkidu touches the gates of the Cedar forest, he feels a supernatural fear and can barely continue. Gilgamesh has terrible dreams of destruction, which Enkidu interprets in a favorable light (UCM) The heroes battle Humbaba, who asks for mercy. But Enkidu urges G. to kill him, despite the gods possible displeasure. Humbaba threatens: The heroes murder Humbaba and return to Uruk in triumph. In Uruk, the goddess Ishtar wants Gilgamesh to become her lover. Neither one of them shall outlive his friend! Gilgamesh and Enkidu shall never become old men!

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Gilgamesh & Ishtar Come to me, Gilgamesh, and be my lover! Bestow on me the gift of your fruit! You can be my husband, I can be your wife. I shall have a chariot of lapis lazuli and gold harnessed for you... kings, nobles and princes shall bow down beneath you. But Gilgamesh scornfully rejects her: You are a door that cant keep out winds and gusts, a palace that rejects its own warriors, a waterskin which soaks its carrier... which of your lovers lasted forever? Which of your paramours went to heaven?

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The Bull of Heaven Enraged, Ishtar sends the Bull of Heaven to ravage Uruk, but G. and E. kill it. When Ishtar reviles them, Enkidu insults her, even throwing the thigh of the bull in her face. Inanna gathers women to mourn the Bull, an act performed in fertility rituals, since the Bull is the husband of Ereshkigal.

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The Bull of Heaven

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Gilgamesh & Ishtar What reasons does Gilgamesh give for rejecting Ishtar? (cf. Aphrodite and Adonis) Why is Gilgamesh so hostile to her, given that he does reject her? How is Ishtar characterized in this exchange? Benevolent, cruel, as bad as Gilgamesh says? What do you expect at the conclusion of this episode, after both Enkidu and Gilgamesh have disrespected the goddess?

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Enkidus death Enkidu has a terrible nightmare: The gods were in council last night. And Anu said to Ellil, As they have slain the Bull of Heaven, so too have they slain Humbaba: One of them must die. Enlil replied, Let Enkidu die, but let Gilgamesh not die. Then heavenly Shamash said, Was it not according to your plans? But Enlil turned in anger to Shamash: You accompanied them daily, like one of their comrades. Enkidu gets sick and dies in twelve days. He curses Shamhat who sexed him and made him human, but Shamash persuades him not to curse Shamhat. Gilgamesh mourned bitterly for Enkidu his friend, and roved the open country. Shall I die too? Am I not like Enkidu? Grief has entered my innermost being.

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When he had gone one double-hour, thick is the darkness, there is no light; he can see neither behind him nor ahead of him When he had gone seven double hours, thick is the darkness, there is no light At the nearing of eleven double- hours, light breaks out. At the nearing of twelve double- hours, the light is steady. Gilgamesh travels to the ends of the earth, through the dark mountain, the pathways of Shamash: He meets Siduri, a female innkeeper (another cult name of Ishtar), to whom he pours out his troubles. She directs him to Utnapishtim, and adds: As for you, Gilgamesh, let your belly be full, Make merry day and night. Of each day make a feast of rejoicing. Day and night dance and play!

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I crossed uncrossable mountains. I travelled all the seas. No real sleep has calmed my face. I have worn myself out in sleeplessness; my flesh is filled with grief. With the help of the boatman Urshanabi, Gilgamesh travels across the water to Dilmun, the land at the edge of time. He cuts sixty saplings for poles, and as each enters the waters, it is eaten away. He finally uses his tattered clothing for a sail and, exhausted, comes to Utnapishtim: Utnapishtim Utnapishtim tells Gilgamesh: how Ea told him to build an ark because a flood was coming how he built the arc and his family alone of all mortals were saved how Ishtar mourned the dead how he and his wife came to Dilmun, living as immortals.

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Original Transcript (p. 107)English Translation (p. 107) 1 gilgame ana umma izakkara ana ta-napitim r qi 1 Gilgamesh spoke to him, to ta-napiti the Far- Away: 2 ana alakkumma ta-napiti| 3 mint ka ul an k ytimma atta 4 u atta ul anta k ytimma atta 2 "As I look at you, ta-napiti, 3 Your form is no different, you are just like me, 4 You are not different at all, you are just like me. 5 gummurka libb ana ep tuqunti 6 [x]x ah nadt elu r ka 7 [att]a k k tazziz ina puhur il ni bal a te'u 5 I was fully intent on doing battle with you, 6 [but] in your presence my hand is stayed. 7 How was it that you attended the gods' assembly, and found eternal life?" 8 ta-napiti ana umma izakkara ana gilgame 9 lupteka gilgame am t ni irti 8 ta-napiti spoke to him, to Gilgamesh: 9 "I will disclose to you, Gilgamesh, a secret matter, 10 u piriti a il ni ka luqbika 11 urippak lu a t du atta 10 and I will tell you a mystery of the gods. 11 "The city of Shuruppak a city you yourself know, 12 [lu a ina ki ]d puratti aknu 13 [ l]u labirma il ni qerbuu 14 [an]a ak n ab bi ubla libbaunu il ni rabti 12 the [city that] is situated on the [banks] of the Euphrates 13 that city was old and the gods were inside it, 14 (when) the great gods decided to cause the Deluge.

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